Earthly Connections
by AquosKitty
Summary: Mira Clay never questioned the origins of her family; Her brother and deceased father were all she knew and cared about. But when romantic feelings erupt between her and Ace Grit, she soon learns the truth about her family and a shocking secret; Her feelings for Ace could destroy Vestal. Critique appreciated!
1. Prologue

(AN: I'm back with a new story! It took me a while to decide on a couple, settings and plot, but I finally cracked the code; Just in time! School starts tomorrow for me again. Oh well. Unlike Bakugan: Zombie Holocaust, this will be written in 3rd person rather than 1st person. This is short as it is a prologue; No introduction to the couple and not much introduction to the setting and plot. Regardless, I hope you enjoy this more than my last story!)

Early Sunday afternoon sunlight streamed through the blinds of a western living room window, casting ribbons of light on the light beige carpet, the dark brown coffee table and a grey sofa. A blanket lay over a sleeping figure, her face buried into the back of the sofa to stop light from waking her up. It was obvious from her constant wriggling, however, that her sleep was rather disturbed. It was not outwardly from the light, nor the cold. The girl's mind was going through the same nightmare that had passed over and over again for the past two weeks.

_Fires burned fiercely from nearly every building she could see. Panicked civilians ran from their houses only to meet grisly fates to more flames and falling debris. No matter how much anyone tried, how much everyone tried, the flames wouldn't die. The fire was swiftly followed by a flood of icy water, quickly either drowning civilians or killing them slowly from hypothermia. In the middle of the carnage was a relatively new addition to this tale, this recurring disaster; A figure. Over the course of the last week, he'd slowly gone from a small cloud of darkness to a blurry silhouette of a man._

"Mira?" A voice called and Mira sat up quickly. The flood was gone, and so was the figure; She was back in the living room in which she'd gone to sleep. She pushed the blanket off and tried to shake the sleepiness away.

"Yes, Keith?" Mira replied, swinging her legs around so that the light was no longer blinding her and instead streaming through the small gaps of her orange-red hair. She looked up at the older figure; Her brother. He looked the same as he always had for the past few months; Blonde hair in spikes that seemed to go all over the place, blue eyes not too dissimilar to hers.

"You were having that dreadful vision again, weren't you?" Keith said, sitting down where Mira's feet had been a few moments ago. "I don't know what it is, Mira, but if you tell me, I can help you."

"Vision? What vision? I'm alright, Keith." Mira knew very well she was lying; the nightmare interfered with her sleep. Her eyes had dark bags under them and she was constantly low on energy. Keith had pretended not to notice for a long time, but his concern was growing as days went by. He still could tell Mira wasn't quite ready to talk about it, though.

"If you say so. You should have something to drink, though." Keith stood back up. "Maybe go get some fresh air. You haven't left the house for days." Mira was hesitant with her answer, wondering if it was best to trust her brother on this one or whether she should just try to go back to sleep, before finally giving a reply.

"OK." Mira rubbed her eyes and stood up, but it was clear that her lack of sleep had affected more than her appearance. Her balance was terribly off. She tried to ignore it and stumbled into the kitchen, using the white countertop as a support before she fell over. She opened the upper cupboard and pulled out a medium-sized plastic cup; she was smart enough to realise getting a glass was asking for trouble and pain. Switching between her left and right arms to support her weight, she turned on the cold tap and filled the cup with water. She had barely started to drink it when she felt a wave of dizziness wash over her, followed by a splitting migraine.

"Mira...are you alright?" Mira heard her brother call, but she couldn't hold herself up anymore. She felt her head crash into the countertop, cold liquid fall over her stomach and legs, and then complete darkness.


	2. Chapter 1

Mira finally awoke for once without the recurring vision entering her mind; Although all she could feel was a headache that took up her entire mind and the air surrounding it. The room she was in was only lit by a single desk lamp that occasionally flickered off briefly. She soon recognised the room as her own room, judging by the layout and the open closet with dresses she only kept for special occasions. Despite the splitting migraine, she felt more rested than she had in the past. Eventually, she brought up enough strength to sit up, followed by the headache giving such a jolt that she groaned in pain. Shortly afterwards, she saw Keith appear at the door.

"Mira, you're awake." He said, allowing a small smile to creep upon his face.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." She replied, giving a smile of her own.

"You're welcome, General Sarcastic." Keith laughed a little. "How is your head?"

"Only more painful than the time you managed to pin my arm to my back when we were kids." Mira giggled a little at her own joke, but Keith didn't return the gesture this time. "I was only joking, Keith. I'll take a few painkillers and I'll be fine."

"Alright then. I will be here if you need me." Keith left the room with that; _presumably to play a video game_, Mira thought. She stood up and managed to stay on balance for once, making it to the kitchen without tripping or stumbling.

Mira had taken the pain killers and was about to reach up for some medicine to help her stay asleep, when she heard Keith walk through the kitchen archway.

"You do realise it's 4:30 in the morning, right? You've been asleep for over twelve hours." He said, putting his hand on the container and gripping it by the lid. A surprised look passed her face briefly before she giggled, letting go of the container and letting him put it back. "It may be best if you go out later. Like I said before, it's been days since you left the house."

"I guess you're right, Keith." Mira replied. She hadn't seen anyone except him for days, let alone talked to anyone except him.

"Obviously, it's too dark to worry about that right now. Maybe a video game of some sort?"

"Sure, that sounds OK. What game?"

"I don't know. One of them, I guess."

"Duh."

Keith pulled out one of the older games and put it in the disk tray as Mira sat down with the controller. The time passed really quickly while the game was in session.

3 hours had passed and light was starting to slip through the window; Not as intensely as the light had in the afternoon.

"It's about time you had something to eat, Mira." Keith stated, pausing the game.

"I'm not hungry, Keith." Mira replied.

"Please, Mira. You haven't eaten since Saturday night."

She looked down at herself and noticed that she was skinnier and paler than usual. Not the good kind of skinny or pale, either, that had been advertised everywhere she knew.

"Alright, Keith." She said, turning around and going back into the kitchen. She had something small, though. A bowl of cereal was all she ate. As she placed the dirtied bowl in the dishwasher, the phone on the desktop rang. Mira made a clear guess in her head it was Ace, who had called every day to ask if she was ready to go to the park. For the last week, the answers had been no due to the insomnia. But today, she decided she could finally agree. During these thoughts, Mira had subconsciously picked the phone up and accepted the call.

"Hello Ace." She said, giving a roll of her eyes and a slight smile.

"By now, you must know what I'm going to ask. You look a lot better today, though." Ace replied.

"The answer's finally yes, Ace." She grinned.

"Yes! I-I mean, cool. 9 O'Clock?"

"Sure."

"Kay, see you then." The phone hung up after that.

Mira walked up to her chest of drawers and picked clothes that were 2 sizes too big for her. Not caring much about their size, however, she put them on and secured the pants with a belt. She walked over to the mirror and checked herself; Indeed, she looked better than she had of late. The bags under her eyes were nearly unnoticeable. Nearly. Some cosmetics to hide it completely weren't out of the question, though. Finally, she looked presentable.

"Keith, I'm heading out to the park." She called out to the loungeroom.

"Ace again?" Keith replied, looking up at her.

"Yeah."

"OK. Don't be out too long."

Mira nodded, opened the door and walked out into the apartment lobby.

20 minutes later, she found herself sitting under the tree where she, Ace and Baron hung out regularly, but not recently. Baron had been backed up by his younger siblings and she had been insomniatic. She'd made it 10 minutes before the suggested arrival time, so she was taking the opportunity to try and relax a little. Looking up to the sky, she wondered if today had been the best day to go outside. Right now it was sunny, with Vestal kids running around happily, but she could see dark clouds on the horizon past the skyscrapers. She began to look for shapes before Ace got here and the storm hit. Silly things popped up, objects most Vestals would find random. However, soon, she stared intently at a shape that was growing familiar.

The figure that appeared in her dreams. It had to be. She shook her head a couple of times to make sure she hadn't drifted to sleep. She stared at it more and more, but as a simple cloud, it could do little more than remind her. The children's yelling began to get louder. One of them seemed to be speaking directly to her. She looked over, but they were where they had been before; playing happily. She then realised the voice was far too deep to be a kid's voice.

"Mira!" He yelled again. She turned around to see Ace standing in front of her, grinning.

Embarrasedly, Mira laughed, allowing a little colour to go to what little was hidden under her makeup to her cheeks. Ace sat down beside her. A catch-up conversation occured, mainly on what had happened since Mira had cut herself away from the rest of Vestal. She made no mention of the strange dreams she was having, though. The conversation was interrupted when Mira felt a drop of water fall onto her cheek. She looked up and saw the clouds were directly above the park and quite dark.

"Uh...Ace?" She said, not looking at him, but keeping her eyes to the sky. Drops were landing in quite a few places now, but it still wasn't enough to call it 'rain'.

"I brought a raincoat, but only one. Didnt you pay attention to the weather forecast?" Ace replied. Mira bit her lip in embarrassment and began to stand up to leave. "Hang on, we can use it like an umbrella if we huddle together." She had no arguments to this. After all, Ace was a friend. She sat back down and he threw the raincoat-purple, of course- over their head just as the rain began to come down in buckets. The park was empty aside from them.

"So...did the weather forecast say anything about how long it's going to rain like hell for?" She asked.

"They estimated about 5 hours." He replied.

"Five HOURS?!"

"What, your brother isn't going to pick you up once he realises you're out almost alone in the middle of a rainstorm?"

"Well, he is, but-"

"Then why worry? He'll be here shortly."

"...OK."

Mira allowed herself to huddle closer to Ace for warmth. Ace looked at her curiously, but not with discomfort. She looked up and saw the look on his face and began to move, smiling guiltily.

"No, stay there if you like." He said and she put her head back where it was. The scene was nearly peaceful amidst all the rain, until lightning struck a few kilometres away. Both teenagers screamed and Mira held Ace tightly around the shoulders.

"Um..." Ace mumbled, not loud enough for Mira to hear over the storm. He was pretty sure his face had gone some shade of red. He tried to ignore it and comfort his friend, but all that did was make it worse. But when she looked up at him, both their faces had gone red. Red with what? Embarrassment? There was nothing embarrasing about the scene. 2 friends alone in the park getting scared from a strike of lightning. Before either could question it further, Mira heard yelling on the other side of the park. Easily identifiable as her brother Keith.

"Um...your brother's here." Ace said, pointing at the silouhette arriving nearby.

"Oh...thank you, Ace." Mira said, pushing the raincoat off her own shoulders and rushing towards her brother.

"Keith!" Mira yelled as she ran towards the figure as fast as she could, the rain doing plenty to impede her movements as well as soak her through. Keith had no umbrella; It was obvious he drove to the park. He wasn't safe from the rain either; When they both could see each other clearly, his hair had been completely flattened by the rain.

"Mira, you're an absolute mess!" He said, putting his arm around her shoulders. Mira wasn't sure how to respond to this one, so she just climbed into the frontside passenger seat. She tried to wave to Ace, but she couldn't even see the tree through the rain. "So...did anything interesting happen?"

"Other than getting caught in the middle of a rainstorm?" Mira joked. She could see a thin smile on her brother's face; Only a thin smile.

"I want you to be careful around Ace." He said as he manuevered the car out of the parking lot and onto the road.

"Why? He's a perfectly reasonable boy."

"Just...just be careful."

"About what? Is he going to hit me with a bomb or something?" She began laughing at her own joke, but Keith's face remained stern.

"You'll understand later." He kept his eyes to the road. Mira decided not to bother him any longer and stared out the window to occupy herself; not that there was anything interesting to look at.


	3. Chapter 2

(AN: So sorry for not updating in forever! School started up recently for me [I'm Australian, thus I live in the southern hemisphere and have been freezing for the last 2 months] and I've been busy with exams, a school play, psychology sessions and a sports carnival in which I participated in the ancient ritual of stuffing-my-face-with-junk-food-all-day. However I do hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me. I have planned the chapter out as best I can.)

The screeching of tyres finding their way to a car spot echoed through the underground carpark. Above the lot, rain hurtled down with the ferocity of a lion. The car found its way into a small space and stopped, powering off. Keith opened the driver's side door and swung his legs over the edge, rain dripping onto the concrete pavement. Shivering, Mira clambered out the passenger's side, hugging herself to try and conserve warmth. It was all for naught, however, as she was also saturated with freezing rain.

"I h-h-hate Mondays..." Mira stuttered as she explored the back of the car for a towel from a trip to the beach.

"Don't bother; I cleaned it out last Friday." Keith said whilst lightly pulling her back. After moving her away, he shut the trunk as quietly as he could. He led the way to the elevator as she got closer to him for warmth. As if it would make it any faster, when they reached the elevator, he pressed the Lower Ground Floor button around a million times. The steel, shiny elevator opened in front of them and they walked in, the doors closing behind them over an automated warning message.

"So…how did it go?" Keith asked as the elevator doors opened on their floor and they stepped out onto linoleum patterned to look like wood.

"It was an average visit…" Mira said, following her brother down the hallway quietly. "M-maybe it could wait until we're home?"

"We are home, genius." Keith unlocked the door in front of them and it slid open speedily. The two walked inside, Keith walking down the hallway towards the cupboard. Mira glanced up at the window; Rain howled down outside. Her thoughts turned to Ace; Was he still outside? Was he OK? Her thoughts were interrupted by something falling onto her head and covering her eyes. She held a hand up and felt the material, a bit grainy but still soft; A towel.

"Thank you, Keith." She said, pulling the towel off of her head and around her shoulders as she sat down on the couch.

"Now, how did the visit go? What happened?" He asked, sitting beside her.

"Not a whole lot. I managed to catch up with him on a few things like how his life has been. Then the rain started and we huddled together to try and stay dry. Then I felt really hot in my cheeks and forehead, I don't know why, and then you came along."

"I see…" Keith stood back up again. Mira could see easily he disapproved of the events before he picked her up, but his face changed back to a loving smile in an instant. "Well, I'm going to put some dry clothes on."

"Yeah, me too." Mira said, standing up herself. She entered her bedroom and silently went through her clothing drawers. After throwing a set of underwear, a shirt and pair of pants onto her bed, she closed the wardrobe and made sure her door was locked. She really didn't need her brother seeing her in her birthday suit, regardless of whether he already saw it or not when she was a baby.

A few minutes later, Mira left her bedroom fully clothed and began to walk down the hallway before sneezing. Very little time transpired before she sneezed again.

"Damnit…" She muttered under her breath.

"Mira, no need for language like that." Keith said, causing her to spin around in shock.

"Don't scare me like that!" Shortly afterwards, Mira sneezed a third time.

"I do believe you're coming down with a cold."

"No sh-"

"Like I said. No need for language. Just lie down and have a rest." Mira nodded at her brother's request and re-entered her bedroom, throwing a cover over her and staring at the white ceiling for a few moments. However, the day's events and the sound of the pouring rain, combined with the fact she'd had around sixteen hours of sleep over the course of a week soon sent her to sleep…and back into the nightmare.

The flames and flood were the same as they always were; Deadly and terrifying, even though in this dream, Mira was almost ghost-like; Floating and untouchable, yet unable to interact with her surroundings. She screamed whenever she saw someone die, but her screams were mute and invisible to her surroundings. It was a fake Vestal, one created by her mind and yet it felt so real, from the huge skyscraper apartments to a small coffee shop on the corner. In the few seconds before it was consumed by fire, she recognised the logo as the exact same as the one outside her dreams. It felt all too real. She closed her eyes as flames completely enveloped her and the flood covered and drenched her. Yet, she still felt unable to look at the lives being taken by such destruction while she managed to stay unscathed. Seeing the flood and fire through slitted eyes, she only opened her eyes fully near the end and saw the dark figure again. He was clouded by mystery and darkness, as always. Once, she thought he was just part of the chaos, someone to be feared. Maybe even the cause of the whole mess. But now, she was becoming curious. Was he someone in particular, someone she knew? If he was, was he from the cliché 'once upon a time' or the current day? She began to move towards him and some of the dark clouds dispersed, revealing him more and more. He was still just a silhouette, but she could tell his back was turned. She wasn't far from him now. 10 more metres and she'd have an answer. 9 metres, 8 metres, 7 metres… he began to turn around, but incredibly slowly. Could the man of darkness actually see her? Answer her questions? 4 metres, 3 metres…She was nearly at her answers as the man continued to turn around…

"Mira, calm down!" A voice yelled outside the dream and Mira immediately awoke to her own screaming. Her breathing was heavy and ragged. She looked at her shoulders to see Keith holding her down. "It's alright, Mira. You were having a nightmare."

"Oh…uh…" Mira stuttered, staring around the room. The rain had died down a little, but it still poured and denied a lot of sunlight to pass through the window, causing the walls to appear greyish blue. She didn't feel much difference in her health to when she'd left the house earlier and decided that her brother had been right about the rest. "I'm sorry."

"There is no need to be apologetic…for things you cannot control." Keith stroked the side of her head. "But I can help you if you just tell me what is going on."

"I don't want to worry you, Keith."

"You're worrying me by not telling me." Keith put his hand on Mira's shoulder and dragged her to a sitting-up position. "Please. I do wish to help."

Mira sighed, but decided it would be best to get this out of her system. "OK."

"The nightmare starts as a normal day. Everyone's heading to work, to school, wherever. Then…from seemingly no-where…a fire starts. One that should have been contained by the fire authorities, but wasn't…It didn't take long before the fire was everywhere. Like a glimpse into Hell itself. The screaming of a devastated mother breaks the silence of terror, and then it's total chaos. I manage to see around 5 people die by the fire every time I have one of these nightmares. The fire is quickly followed by a flood, killing whoever survived the fires. The water is ice cold, meaning if you don't drown, you quickly die from hypothermia. There's only one person who survives, but…I don't know his name. I tried to find out who it was this time, but my restlessness in the outside world you're your concern to me…and I woke up when you shook me." Mira looked up at her brother. "I'm sorry, Keith."

"You explained a lot to me in a short while; there is nothing to be sorry about." Keith let go of Mira's shoulder, but she did not fall back down as he expected. "Does Ace know about this?"

"No."

"That's probably for the best."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Never mind." Keith looked at the clock beside Mira's bed. "It's early afternoon." The statement sparked a flaming question in Mira's head; was Ace alright? No matter how hard she 'blew' against it, the question wouldn't go away.

"May I go see Ace? Just to check if he's alright." The words tumbled out of her mouth before she had a chance to register them even rising up and she was mentally impressed with how she managed to say it without it sounding like baby talk.

"Mira…it'd be best for you to just stay here and rest. You need it."

"But Ace…he's still outside…I'm certain of it." Mira knew she was somewhat lying; She was concerned about Ace, but she wasn't sure he was still outside.

"Well…" Keith began, purposely pausing to curry his sister's attention. "Alright. Provided you're back before dark."

"Yes! Thank you, Keith!" Mira yelled, hugging her brother tightly.

"…And you wear your brown raincoat." Keith added. Mira groaned; she hated that thing. It was far too big for her body; 5 sizes or so. It also smelt horrible, like mothballs left in the sun for 2 weeks. However, she desperately wanted to see Ace again.

"Ok…" She said, letting go of her brother. He stood up and left and she spun herself around, standing up and going to find the raincoat. To multitask, she called Ace at the same time.

"Mira?" The phone answered as Ace picked up the other end of the line.

"Ace! I've been so worried! Are you alright?" Mira replied.

"Yeah. Haven't moved, either. I can't feel my legs." Both of them managed to laugh a little.

"I'll come down and see you again. It'll be a while though as I will have to walk."

"OK. See you then." The phone line dropped out as Mira pulled out the raincoat. She reclined from it at first, despising the smell, however she eventually dropped it over her shoulders.

"See ya, Keith." She said as the door opened to allow her to leave the apartment.


	4. Chapter 3

The overpowering stench of the raincoat was soon drained away by the heavy rain as Mira set out along the footpath that would take her to the park. As she walked, cold rainwater clung to her boots, her hands and her face, giving her excess weight to drag around on an already-tired body. The raincoat provided her some protection, but by the time she reached the park, there had been little point in taking it at all. She sighed and tried to look through the park for Ace, but the rain's intensity had picked up again. She sighed again; this time frustration gaining ahold of her voice. She looked around, trying to find the tree by memory. It took 20 irritating seconds before she finally located it and not wishing to waste more time, ran towards it.

When she reached the tree, she looked around its base, but Ace was no-where to be found.

_Damn it. He tricked me, but why?! _Mira thought, wiping rain away from her face.

"Hey, genius, I'm over here." A voice called. Mira's head snapped up to its location and she saw Ace lying under the tree next to the one she was searching. "Yeah, wrong tree."

Mira smiled awkwardly and walked over. Only when she was around 2 metres away did she notice how terrible he looked. The front of his face, his raincoat, his legs and his hair were soaked and his jaw seemed to shake a little.

"Oh my goodness!" Mira cried, kneeling down beside him, the wet grass saturating her shins.

"Don't worry, it's not the first rainstorm I've gotten caught in, and it won't be the last." Ace replied. Regardless, Mira tried to push the rain out of his face; it was all for naught however, as she was also soaked. "Can't feel my legs either. Might have to spend the evening under the tree."

"No way. If you want, I can help you back home or even to my house."

Ace laughed a little. "That's fine with me."

Mira slowly shuffled over to sit next to him under the tree. It provided a little protection from the rain, but not much.

"So, what's the deal with not being able to come out for the last week?" Ace asked.

"Um...Brother grounded me." Mira lied in reply. She looked out at the rain.

"C'mon, tell the truth."

"I did."

"I can tell you're lying."

"Alright, you've worn me down." Mira sighed. "Nightmares have caused me insomnia and I've been too tired to accept invitations."

"What kind of nightmares?"

"World destruction. Fire and flood."

"C'mon, a little more detail."

"I don't want to worry you. It's probably just a phase."

"Fine, then." Ace looked away briefly. "I don't know of any girls who went through a phase where they had nightmares as part of normality. Please, just tell me in more detail."

Mira sighed. "Vestal gets completely wiped out by a fire and a following flood. It makes no sense to me, but it's still frightening."

"Anything else I should know?"

"There's-" Mira stopped mid-sentence. A man of smoke would just confuse Ace more. "-nothing else to tell you."

"Fine." Ace said before feeling a shiver run up his spine and shocking him.

"Are you alright?" Mira asked.

"Yeah, yeah. Just cold." Ace replied. "Maybe we could huddle together for warmth?"

"It's not going to do much."

"Yeah, but it'll do something."

Mira decided that Ace was probably right and got closer to Ace, who put his arm around her shoulder. As time passed, the situation did make them warmer; but not in the way Ace expected. His face felt hot, he felt his blood flow faster than usual and he could see Mira visibly blushing.

"Ace...are you alright?" Mira asked. "Your face has gone bright red."

"Uh..." Ace looked down towards the ground, letting go of Mira's shoulder. Using a low tree branch, he tried to stand up, but he'd been there for hours; his legs were half-dead. Mira stood up and held up his back in an attempt to help him with his balance, but when he let go of the tree, he fell backwards into her, knocking them both to the ground and leaving her head to get drenched by the rain. He couldn't stand up and his weight had her pinned to the ground.

"I might be new to this whole 'standing up after hours of sitting down' business, but this, to me, looks like a step backwards." Mira joked.

"Yeah, just give me a few moments and I'll stand back up." Ace replied, trying not to move at all.

"Pins and needles?"

"Yeah. I hate them."

"I dare you to find someone who doesn't."

"Ha ha, very funny." Ace said, the pain now bearable enough to stand back up without falling over or crying out. He turned around to Mira and found her face still red, and it wasn't because of the cold. Awkwardly he rubbed the back of his neck and offered his hand out for her to stand up. She refused and stood up on her own. Mira clasped the branch in her hand and half-dangled from it, her feet still planted on the ground but not firmly. Water began to spill from the leaves at the end of the branch. She looked towards the ground guiltily, like she a child does when they're caught stealing a cookie.

Ace leaned against the tree, his face down and still flushed red with...embarassment? Like last time, there wasn't anything embarrasing about their situation. 2 friends out in the rain... A thought came to his head in an instant. He tried to question against it, tell himself it was ridiculous, but no matter what, it seemed to be the answer. They had physical, mental and emotional attraction...love? It was what he felt for her. He wondered if she felt the same. Rejection scared him, but then again...it was the worst he could get. He looked up at Mira, who in turn was looking at him.

Ace slowly edged across the tree towards Mira, clutching the branch she was. She didn't slink back away from him, but she didn't move closer either. Gradually, he slid his hand onto Mira's own gently. Mira blushed a little, but made no efforts to shove Ace away. She began to move slowly closer, letting go of the branch with her left hand. Ace let go of the branch with his right hand, but before he could do anything else, Mira quickly leaned over and kissed him lightly on the lips. It ended as quickly as it had begun and their faces were bright red.

"Ace..." Mira began before Ace put his finger on her lips.

"Not another word." He replied. Mira looked a little scared for a moment before Ace leaned in to resume the kiss, this time with more confidence behind it. Mira returned the feelings to him and ran her hand through his hair as she kissed him. Neither of them were at all sure how much time had elapsed and at the time, they didn't care.

"Mira!" A voice yelled and instinctively, Ace and Mira shoved each other away, looking at the figure standing two metres away. Keith had arrived, and much more prepared for the storm than the first time he had gone to find his sister.

"Keith?!" Mira said in shock. "What are you doing here?!"

"I thought I told you to be home before dark, so I went looking for you. And this is what I found." Keith looked away.

"I can explain-" Ace began, but Keith cut him off.

"I don't want to hear it. C'mon Mira. He can get himself home and I can get us home." Keith said, and before Mira could respond he grasped ahold of her wrist with the strength of iron and motioned for her to go with him.

"Keith, I don't see the problem!" Mira pleaded.

"I do." Keith replied, letting go of her wrist when they reached the car.

"What, I kiss him once and suddenly it's a crime?!"

"You don't know what you two could do together, do you?!"

"Be happy?!"

"You really don't." Keith sat in the driver's seat and looked at his sister; Drenched in rain and in anger. "I'm doing this to protect you, him and Vestal."

"What the hell could a relationship with him cause?!"

"I will explain later. But you must understand this now; you didn't pick Subterra as your attribute by sheer chance."


	5. Chapter 4

(AN: Sorry for not updating frequently! Again, I've been backed up at school with assignments and exams and whatnot. I had a long weekend this week, though, so new chapter and maybe 2 new ones. P.S, should the Author's Notes be at the beginning or end of a chapter? Just a question.)

The second the car pulled back into the parking space, Mira threw her brown raincoat onto the ground and sprinted across the parking lot towards the staircase. She couldn't tell whether her face was soaked from the rain or her tears, but she decided it was probably both. Keith sighed and walked around, scooping up his sister's raincoat and throwing it over his back.

"What am I going to do with you, Mira?" He said to himself and followed her to the lobby. He had serious doubts about whether Mira could actually run up 23 flights of stairs in rapid succession. He pressed a button on the elevator menu and the door opened up in front of him. Walking inside, he noticed the elevator was also heading for floor 7.

_That answers THAT question, _he thought as the doors slid shut. He leaned against the rail and stared blankly at the screen telling him the floor number.3, 4, 5, 6, 7. The doors slid open and as he expected as he looked down, Mira slowly walked in. She looked up for only a moment, revealing eyes red with tears. Then she looked back down at the floor as a droplet fell off her face and onto the floor. She pressed her palms against the railing as more water rolled onto her drying clothes. Keith stared at the floor number screen again, only he was really staring beyond it. He realised he'd been rather harsh on his only living family member. Part of him felt like it was the right thing to do, but the other part wondered whether Mira would put herself in some sort of risk. The doors of the elevators opened and they both walked silently to their apartment.

"Mira…" Keith began as they stepped inside, but when Mira turned around, he could see that talking with him was the thing furthest from her mind. He said nothing else and left to turn on the television and maybe get a little more on the odd weather. Mira walked into her room, tumbled onto her bed and let the waves of her locked-up emotions take over her mind, but not her voice. Her pillow was quite quickly soaked with drying rainwater and sorrow. Time passed and the room around her became darker and darker, like the world was lulling her to sleep. Eventually, her eyes fell closed and she sub-consciously knew what was coming next.

The seemingly normal day was interrupted by the fire, disrupting the peaceful planet and creating a scene of chaos and atmosphere of horror. The flood arrived to clean up what was left via either its sheer force or its temperature. The shadowed figure appeared again and Mira began to walk towards it. He began to turn around again... He turned around fully and looked at Mira, but she still couldn't see an identity, just a pair of seemingly lifeless white eyes in a sea of black cloud. She opened her mouth to speak, ask some questions…

"Please, Mira. Wake up." A voice called. Mira opened her eyes and surveyed the room around her. Her lamp was glowing brightly and faintly yellow on her desk, but everything else was in place…aside from her brother sitting at the end of her bed.

"What do you want, Keith?" She snapped back.

"I wanted to apologise for my actions…and explain them."

"Apology accepted. Can I go back to sleep?" Mira's tone was dishonest and she was staring at the window.

"You don't understand, Mira. I can explain my harsh actions if you give me a chance to do so."

"Keith, you dragged me away from Ace like I was some sort of criminal. It doesn't make sense! You have a lot of explaining to do."

Keith sighed and gestured for Mira to sit up. "I said to you before that you didn't pick Subterra as your battling attribute by sheer chance. It's true. I didn't pick Pyrus by sheer chance, either. There are real reasons behind everything, Mira."

"Keith, that may as well have been said in German. I need more detail."

"That would require…drastic measures."

"What kind of measures?"

"Things that could get us...killed."

"Just explain it, Keith!"

"Fine." Keith took a deep breath. "Our father held a small amount of significance to this side of our bloodline. But our mother… You were only a year old when she died. I was five and she had explained it as best as she could to me, but there is little a young child will understand."

"I still don't understand."

"It's better and more understandable if I show you. Before she died, she told me of a story of a catacomb in the graveyard where she is buried. When she told it to me, I thought she was telling a mysterious fairy tale. But now, I realise there were no flaws in her story, not a single missing link. She had to be telling the truth. But the journey could take over two days, not to mention there's a good chance we could die…"

"Keith, I want to know what is wrong with me and Ace. If it's the only way to know, I'll take it. I want to know exactly why and the only way it looks like I'm going to get an answer is if we go on this journey."

"I understand, Mira. Pack some things and get into some suitable clothing. I will do the same." Keith turned around and left. Mira looked through her wardrobe before picking out clothes that would keep her relatively protected whilst giving her freedom of motion.

Dressed more appropriately for such a journey, she left her bedroom and opened the hallway cupboard. Looking through the shelves, she pulled out a survival knife, a first aid kit, a small pistol and a long rope. She left the cupboards open, walked to the kitchen and pulled out 6 filled 1 litre water bottles. She put the bottles on the countertop just as her brother came down the hallway.

"Are you trying to take everything but the kitchen sink?" He joked. Mira gave him a small smile. "We won't be back for at least a day and there's no guarantee that we even will came back. Are you certain this is what you want to do?"

"Yes, Keith." Mira responded.

"I understand. I won't let you down, Mira." Keith put 2 backpacks on the table as well as a number of other items; Some sort of sword, a shotgun, sleeping bags, a multitool, a torch and 6 cans of tinned food.

"Are you ready?" Keith asked.

"Shouldn't Ace know what we're doing?" Mira asked.

"Not Ace, not Baron, not Gus, not anyone but us."

"But if we go missing-"

"-Then we're just another lost story to the world, but that won't happen. We will survive, Mira. I promise." Keith threw the sleeping bags and food into his backpack. Mira put the bottles of water, rope and first aid kit into her own backpack. "C'mon. Let's go."

"Alright, Keith." Mira said, slinging her backpack over her shoulders and following Keith to the door.

Next thing Mira knew, the car was on the streets and headed towards the more lifeless section of the city; literally. The lights were gradually growing weaker in luminosity. Every now and then, Keith would turn up the lights on the car. Mira could feel her heart pounding faster and faster the closer they got to the graveyard. Sooner than her eyes and brain could fully register, the graveyard came into view. Soon, the car had pulled into the parking lot.

"I guess there's no turning back from here." Mira said, climbing out of the car.

"Well…" Keith began.

"It was a figure of speech, Keith." Mira rolled her eyes as Keith turned on the torch and shone it along the ground. Mira followed him closely, constantly looking around her as if a spectre were going to jump out of a tombstone and scare her half to death at any moment.

"Relax, Mira." Keith said, grasping a hold of Mira's hand. As if by telepathy, she felt somewhat safer simply by having her brother hold her. "Here we are." Keith gestured to a gravestone. 'Karhla Ferrowin' was engraved on the metal plaque, slightly smoothed out. Below it was an epitaph. To passers-by, it looked like simple words to the deceased arranged by a deranged poet, but Keith could read past it immediately. 'Those headed endlessly, through heaven or red never-ending death, rise on simple edge, but under simple heads.'

"The thorned rose bush." Keith repeated. "I wish mother could have picked a harder clue."

"I can't argue with you. It sounds like one of those religious nutcases." Mira agreed. Keith continued walking, shining his torch over several more graves; some new, some aged, some so old the names had worn smooth. Eventually, the torch shone over several red roses.

"There, though we should probably check it is actually a thorned rose bush, first." Keith walked over, starting to drag his sister along. He held the torch directly at the bush. Mira walked closer to it and ran her fingers over one of the stems. She felt small bumps along her fingertips, but nothing sharp.

"I don't think this is the right one, Keith." Mira said, turning back around.

"You're not far enough into the bush to feel anything. Try further inside, but be careful. Don't injure yourself." Keith replied. Mira turned back to the bush and took another step closer, but that was all that was needed to break the thin ground they were standing on. The ground crumbled under Mira's feet, causing her to fall through the ground. Keith refused to let go of his sister's hand as they both tumbled down several feet.


End file.
